The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

What the Sea Wears    
by Kathleen McCluskey 

The waves licked the shore with a rhythmic hush, like the sea was whispering secrets too old for the land to remember. It was the kind of sunset people pay to see, warm, drowning in orange, casting long shadows across the sand.

Claire stood ankle deep in the surf, camera phone raised, watching her son dance through the shallows. He laughed, arms outstretched like wings. He always did this at the beach.

She snapped a picture just as he ran farther out. “Toby, not too far.”

He didn’t answer.

Claire shaded her eyes. Another silhouette stood just ahead of him. A child, unmoving, half-submerged, featureless in the dying light. She blinked hard, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. It wasn’t there before.

The new figure held out its hand.

Toby took it.

“No!”

Claire crashed into the surf, heart hammering. Her legs were clumsy against the pull of the tide. The silhouettes vanished beneath the water without a splash. She dove, clawing at the water, choking on salt and panic.

The sea was empty, the children were gone. The sun dipped lower, almost touching the horizon.

Then. Movement.

A figure stumbled from the surf. Small. Slumped.

“Toby!” She gasped, rushing to her son.

He collapsed onto the sand coughing up seawater. Claire dropped to her knees and gathered him in her arms. But something was wrong. His body was too limp. Too cold. Too soft. His skin, always warm and sun-kissed now felt waxy, as if left too long in water. His chest rose and fell…barely.

“Toby?” She whispered.

His head lolled back. His face smiled. But it wasn’t with Toby’s smile. The eyes were empty.

Too round. The lids didn’t blink.

The skin on his cheek had slipped. Claire gasped as a flap of it peeled slightly, exposing something beneath. Not blood. Not bone. Something grey, ridged, glistening with brine. Like something that never belonged in human shape was trying to wear one. She stared in mute horror. The thing that looked like Toby raised a trembling hand and touched her cheek.

“Mom,” it said in a perfect imitation of Toby’s voice. “Don’t cry.”

She wanted to scream. To run. But her limbs refused. Her body felt submerged in syrup, her thoughts muffled.

The sun dipped below the horizon and the sea offered a gift.

A second form floated onto the beach, gently rocked by the tide. Bloated. Torn. A headless, hollow cavity where the torso had been skinned. Claire stared, her mouth hanging open. No sound came, just a single tear rolled lazily down her cheek.

Whatever wore Toby leaned into her embrace and looked up at her. Her skin prickled and crawled. She looked down.

“I came back for you…mom.”

A seam split beneath the jaws, revealing a sliver of wet meat and teeth. Too many teeth, shifting beneath the human mask. Its breath was foul, like rotting seaweed and copper. Still, her arms didn’t release it. Its fingers intertwined with hers. Her mind reeled but her body obeyed the illusion. Somewhere deep inside, the real Claire screamed.

The creature stood.

So did she.

Hand in hand they walked toward the water. Behind them the corpse of her real son rolled lifeless in the foam. The tide rose. The sky was black and the sea sang them home.

.

Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!